(30 June 2025) Tap into East & Partners global analyst team’s valuable “on the ground” insight into emerging research, analysis and client thought leadership trends from the world of commercial and investment banking.
Is “The” #1 Business Bank Mantle Built on Deposits or Loans?
Expanding on Ian Rogers recent BankingDay coverage highlighting NAB’s aggressive refocus on closing the gap to CBA in business deposits, East & Partners directly interviewed the Top 100 revenue ranked corporates in Australia and NZ on what proportion of their total business deposit balances is allocated to their primary Cash & Payments/Transaction Bank.
The results paint a fascinating picture of a market in flux. Treasurers increasingly report incentives tied to credit based relationships as the battle between the Big Four and challengers such as Macquarie and Judo Bank heats up for coveted business deposits.
Australian and NZ Bank’s highest value deposit customers also divulged whether they were planning to switch their primary business deposits transaction bank in the next six months, revealing a strengthening churn impulse on both sides of the ditch.
What impact will the intensifying battle for “#1 Business Bank” mantle have on switching intent as wallet share plummets for traditionally “sticky” business deposits?
This is especially significant for NZ banks following the surprise departure of RBNZ Governor Adrian Orr stemming from his commitment to enforce stringently high capital buffers on Australian lenders in NZ to ward against a 1 in 200 year financial crisis.
What Does Value for Money Really Mean to the Customer?
A core component of East research revolves around the perception of what value for money means to corporates. This concept is split distinctly between price and service yet counter-intuitively smaller sized firms are more predicated on price and larger sized enterprises focus their attention on service.
Value for Money perceptions continue to slide across multiple business banking product lines monitored closely by East & Partners long-running research programs. What is driving this trend?
The concept of value for money has never been more important as customer switching intent races to record highs in areas of traditionally low churn such as cash & liquidity management and payments.
Both incumbent Banks and challenger neobank Fintechs continue to suffer from misalignment with corporates rapidly evolving expectations, instead promoting inappropriate ‘one-size fits all’ solutions for clients. This is especially apparent at an SME level, contributing to a seismic shift in client behaviour preferring to “home bank” pre-pandemic instead now reaching levels of panel banking more emblematic of large corporates.
As a result, many businesses have been dissatisfied with the service offerings from these providers, particularly in FX markets where risk management advice and operational issues commonly emerge as key pain points. Onboarding remains a massive frustration across Trade & Supply Chain Finance, Asset Finance and Transaction Banking as CFOs and treasurers become stuck in perennial RFP processes that simply shouldn’t be so hard given the depth of their relationship.
What corporate’s view as exceptional “value for money” can really be boiled down what they perceive as defining features and their willingness to pay for these features. How well are leading banks performing on these measures and what opportunities are there for challengers seeking to enhance their customer proposition?
M&A in a World of Uncertainty
Following exclusive research from Capital Brief and East that suggests top corporates are seeking private credit funding instead of traditional bank loans, the East on Demand Platform will produce valuable insight into forecast M&A activity among CFOs and corporate treasurers of the Top 100 revenue ranked Australian corporates into 2026 and beyond.
As Joyce Moullakis reports for AFR, confidence returned to Australian dealmaking in May. While that is encouraging, the bounce in activity more likely indicates improved volumes of M&A involving Australian companies in H2 2025 as opposed to outstanding “boom time” deal flow.
Megadeals are playing a major part in 2025 M&A volumes both locally, notably the A$36 billion Santos bid and further abroad where they have also been a major feature.
Are CFOs and treasurers hunting for outright new acquisitions or scaling back their ambitions to pursue partial divestments? What are the main influences driving dealflow? For this proprietary insight and more stay tuned next month to access the latest analysis.
May Analyst Meeting Insights
Last month’s May 2025 analyst meeting insights highlighted growing SME Forward FX engagement, Trump trade war supply chain recalibration and forecast private credit demand.
East & Partners’ Outlook uncovers how corporates, middle market enterprises and small businesses are responding to changes in the global economy, from new technology to emerging trends for business banking. Download now.
Quickfire Voice of the Customer Insight – East on Demand
All of these complex, difficult to quantify questions are accessible from the East on Demand platform.
Monthly fieldwork enables clients to directly interrogate CFOs and treasurers on any question, in any market with rapid voice of the customer insights generated within two weeks.
Clients utilise the platform for quickfire thought leadership and marketing campaign proof points and support, product and service development, defining a new business case, driving sales pipelines, forecast customer needs and much, much more.
East analysts compile a quarterly list of questions inspired by our unique understanding of the market, driven by client conversations, corporate interviews and market movements. Get in touch to find out what we would ask if we were in your shoes.